During the period when Zhang Hongbin was preparing to leave, the first assistant of the imperial court was replaced by another one.

In fact, the first assistant in the Chongzhen year is often replaced, and more than 20 times in the past seventeen years, the longest is Wen Tiren, and it is only four years of the official residence. And his existence does not show how talented he is, but because Wen Tiren is not the Donglin Party, but represents the Zhejiang Party, but a pawn of Chongzhen to contain the Donglin Party.

The reason why the previous chief assistant was removed was that there was no way to effectively contain or even exterminate the Salvation Army, and even all the rogues.

But the new Shoufu also couldn't give a means to cure the root cause, but the means to cure the symptoms gave one, so he managed to keep the identity of the first assistant. His method was to let the new army in Shanxi speed up the suppression of bandits in the local area, and then go to Shaanxi to suppress the bandits. The time given to them is more than a year, and for more than a year, Shaanxi has been blockaded in all aspects, no one is allowed to leave or enter, no resources are allowed to enter Shaanxi, and at the same time, all materials in Shaanxi cannot be sold to other provinces.

This is the real bottom of the kettle, and the new capital intends to use such means to cut off the supply of grain and grass to the thieves in Shaanxi. Especially the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army is already a standard anti-thief, a little more advanced than the thief. The biggest feature of being an anti-thief is to have a territory, and today's Xi'an Mansion is the territory of the Salvation Army.

The result of using such a method of drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle is that Zhang Hongbin must find a way to raise food and grass for the people under his rule, otherwise not to mention whether the imperial army will destroy him, only that he is busy with the rebellion of the people under his rule, I am afraid that he will already be overwhelmed. Even if there is no rebellion, just say that the supply of grain and grass is insufficient, I am afraid that in more than a year, the Salvation Army will also be greatly damaged, and when the time comes, the Salvation Army will inevitably collapse even if it is strong.

Chongzhen was somewhat unbearable about the consequences of this system, he knew that in this way, the rogues in Shaanxi would increase the plundering of the people of Shaanxi, and a good Shaanxi would inevitably be ruined. But there is really nothing wrong with Shousuke's strategy, especially when he also mentioned that if the rogues don't eat, maybe they will merge with the Salvation Army, and maybe there will be no need for the imperial army, and the Salvation Army will be killed by his own people.

Considering the benefits of a wide range, Chongzhen could only agree to the implementation of this strategy. What he didn't know was that after Zhang Hongbin got the news from the Di Bao, he wantonly publicized the rumors that the imperial court had abandoned Shaanxi in Xi'an Prefecture, and based on the news from the Di Bao, he immediately let those wavering court diehards completely surrender to his command. No one is a fool, the court doesn't want to be himself, if he still has a loyal attitude, then there will be no result in death.

As for grain and grass, the new crops do not pick up the land with high yields, and at most Lang costs some fertility, Zhang Hongbin just wanted to develop local biogas, using the residue of biogas as fertilizer for farmers. At the same time, the cultivation of alfalfa is also promoted, which is an excellent forage grass, and can also be made into green storage material for preservation, and the most important thing is that it is a traitor to the plant world like soybeans, and has the effect of fertilizing the land.

This qiē will naturally be the responsibility of the local agricultural departments, and the biggest advantage of these institutions independent of the local government is that they can be independently and exclusively responsible for one aspect of affairs. Otherwise, the county order used to be responsible for dealing with it, and the result was that this could be taken care of, and that could not be taken care of.

As for the material issue, the so-called ban in the Ming Dynasty has always been only able to stop those ordinary people and merchants, and against the really powerful literati and gentry, such a ban actually has no effect at all. Don't you see that the ban on the sea has been issued for so many years, and there are still a lot of Ming merchant ships on this sea?

In the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the big businessmen with conditions, who do not have a few sea vessels, maybe they don't know how many violate the system, who don't know how many of them don't know the profits of sea trade, and it is precisely because they know that they will encourage the Donglin Party that they support, and constantly use the excuse of the ancestral family law to maintain the sea ban system to ensure that no one else will grab this cake with them.

Zhang Hongbin's side has begun to cooperate with the veteran gentry in Chang'an to form a chamber of commerce, and the result is that money buys road connections, plus there is Zhang Hongwu in Shanxi to take care of one or two privately, and the materials are naturally smooth, you can buy as much as you want, and you can ship as much as you want.

In terms of funds, Zhang Hongbin only relied on this place to generate taxes and fees and equivalent to one-fifth of the total annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The largest income is naturally the commercial tax, the Ming Dynasty is too generous to the merchants, and the commercial tax collected, especially the tax on luxury goods, can be described as low and pitiful. Zhang Hongbin, on his part, has specially set up a series of tax standards and audit systems, and put forward the concept of consumption tax, especially for luxury goods. For necessary materials such as grain, iron and steel, and saltpeter, preferential treatment such as tax exemption or even tax refund is provided. In this way, if the taxes can't go up, then it's really hell.

After arranging the affairs of the family, Zhang Hongbin asked Wang Er and Cao Wenzhao to take 500 personal guards and 5,000 elites to go to the agreed meeting place.

The location of the alliance is in Lingtai County, Pingliang Province, which is at the junction of Pingliang Province, Xi'an Province, Fengxiang Mansion and Qingyang Province, and is most suitable for the alliance of the rebel army in the east, west, north and south. For Zhang Hongbin, this is also the ideal location for the alliance, and he doesn't want any rogues to meet in his own territory.

It's just that when he went to other state capitals to meet the alliance, security was also a top priority, so Zhang Hongbin even specially recruited 20,000 people at the junction of Pingliang Mansion and Xi'an Prefecture, waiting for the signal to come over to support him. Otherwise, God knows if this so-called alliance is a killing game against himself?

Crossing Xi'an Mansion into Pingliang Mansion gives people the feeling that they have entered another world from one world.

In Xi'an, even in the most remote places, the people are happy and full of hope. The original insensitive expression has slowly disappeared, replaced by a yearning for life.

But after leaving the border and entering Pingliang Mansion, I found that this place was completely a hellish scene.

There was a desolation everywhere, and on the road you could even see the bones of the fallen homeless, and there were many fragments of bones on them, and there were traces of teeth, which were not the work of wild beasts, but the good deeds of the same kind...... If it was to eat the dead, it might not be so disgusting, but soon Zhang Hongbin discovered that there were many private slaughterhouses, which were really sinful places where the living were slaughtered for food.

Also, people are hungry to this point, and since cannibalism has become the only way to live, what is there to worry about? The phrase 'dead Taoist friends do not die poor Taoism' is not only for Taoist priests, perhaps this is the so-called human nature.

After passing through several villages, there were no more people in them, the houses were empty, and the most miserable thing was that all the crops and even the bark of the trees around them had obvious signs of being eaten. Only some of the wild grass that should have grown after was still half-dead there, and the earliest ones were afraid that they had also been eaten.

"Xing, the people are suffering, dying, the people are suffering......" Zhang Hongbin shook his head.

"It is not surprising that there will be such a situation in Shaanxi for many years, and it is gratifying that at least the people under our rule are living very happily. And when we rule here one day, we also have the confidence to make the people here as happy as the people of Xi'an, which is the heaviest responsibility on our shoulders. "Wang Er was born as a farmer, but it is rare to say something literary and artistic.

Come to think of it, this period of study was not in vain. Wang Er, who is not a pure reckless man, has become more and more like a qualified general.

"Lord, there is Lingtai County ahead. Fifty miles outside Lingtai County, there are a large number of thieves stationed...... Oh, it's the rebels, and as promised, no army can come within fifty miles of the Alliance's location. However, the scouts also snooped a little, that is, those rebel leaders within fifty miles brought at least a hundred personal guards with them as self-protection. Cao Wenzhao rode back and reported to Zhang Hongbin.

"Okay, Wang Er, you take a hundred guards with me to the appointment. As for Lao Cao, you are stationed fifty miles away, and as soon as there is any trouble, you will immediately send a signal to let the army of your headquarters come to meet us, and at the same time come to rescue us. Zhang Hongbin gave the order.

"Yes!" Wang Er and Cao Wenzhao received orders one after another.

Not long after, accompanied by Wang Er, Zhang Hongbin entered the place of the alliance, where a lot of tents were arranged, and there were also people who were responsible for welcoming them.

And the person who was responsible for greeting Zhang Hongbin was not a stranger, it was Song Xiance, a fake Taoist. This will be an important strategist of Li Zicheng in the future, and he can be regarded as a representative of resourcefulness. The propaganda of the 'Eighteen Sons Master Artifact' was also made by him, so as to provide Li Zicheng with an excuse to usurp the Ming Dynasty. Later, he was named the 'Founding Army Division' by Li Zicheng, the Dashun Dynasty fell, Liu Zongmin was captured, and this one is nowhere to be found.

At this moment, he is naturally not so good, he can only be regarded as a small strategist under the command of Li Zicheng, a general under the command of the old king Gao Yingxiang. But it can be seen that Li Zicheng values him very much, and he is also very loyal to Li Zicheng.

"I didn't expect us to meet again so soon?" Zhang Hongbin dismounted with a smile and walked towards Song Xiance.

"I haven't seen you for many days, but the style of the redeemer is still the same!" Song Xiance also complimented.

In fact, he didn't think about taking refuge in Zhang Hongbin, but at first he felt that the Salvation Army was in a bag, and Li Zicheng had the grace of knowing him, so he voted for Li Zicheng. Later, I learned that the Salvation Army pretended to be a pig and ate a tiger, but I was worried that I had already become a leader, and I was not young but the salvation of the Salvation Army's big boss was only a teenager.

When he gets used to it completely, even if Zhang Hongbin solicited in public last time and showed enough sincerity, Song Xiance could be unmoved.

"Mr. Song is also still in good spirits, what he said before the redemption, no matter when and where it is still effective, I hope Mr. Song will think about it more!" Zhang Hongbin saw that not far from Song Xiance, there were several generals coming, but he said to him very honestly.

"Loyal ministers don't matter to the two masters, no matter when and where, Song will not change this." Song Xiance rejected Zhang Hongbin very bluntly.

"I said that the master of salvation only met twice and began to dig the foot of the wall?" The middle-aged man led by him greeted him.

"Your Excellency is...... Could it be the king? Zhang Hongbin subconsciously remembered a person.

"It's Gao, I didn't expect that the little nickname would be able to enter the ears of the big master of redemption!" Gao Yingxiang was also open-minded, and did not care about Zhang Hongbin digging the foot of the wall.

At that time, the Salvation Army officially raised the anti-flag, which can be regarded as an example for the world's thieves, perhaps in order not to be weaker than the Salvation Army, Gao Yingxiang called 'King Chuang' a few years in advance, but only a few months before and after, I am afraid that many rebels do not know about this matter. So he didn't expect that Zhang Hongbin actually knew that he was the king.

And this time, it is also the first meeting between Zhang Hongbin and Gao Yingxiang, as for Li Zicheng, he is on Gao Yingxiang's left side at the moment, but his identity is not qualified to contact Zhang Hongbin alone, otherwise there will be a suspicion of collaborating with the enemy.